[HCARC] FW: HCARC Meeting Change
Kerry Sandstrom
kerryk5ks at hughes.net
Thu Mar 12 18:19:51 EDT 2015
I fail to see any positive outcome. We all knew the club meetings were
on the first Thursday of each month before we joined. Now we have a
small group of members who have decided that the first Thursday isn't
convenient for them. Well the fact is no time is always convenient for
every body. Those of us who attend the club regularly have decided that
the club is important to us and have adjusted our schedules and our
families schedules so that we can attend regularly. Now this small
group thinks the rest of us should go and rearrange our schedules for
the small groups convenience!
Now what is it that is driving this? This small group claims they want
the opportunity to attend another club meeting that is also scheduled on
the first Thursday. I am very skeptical that any of this small group
will actually attend the other club's meetings. As for most of us, it
is an hour or more drive from Harper. Even more for those who live
north and west of here. I won't be making that drive. I don't know how
many others will.
Harvey and Terry sent e-mails which identified problems we have had at
the Red Cross because of other groups. As of now we have established
ourselves on the first Thursday and no longer have issues. If we move
to the second Thursday, we can anticipate problems again. The certainty
of those problems appears higher than the certainty of many or even any
of our members attending the other club's meetings. For their efforts,
Terry and Harvey were accused of presenting the negative side of the
discussion.
As far as activity goes, ham radio has numerous activities to engage
people. Just because several people aren't interested in Field Day or
ARES or club officer doesn't mean they aren't active. I don't seem to
be interested in the activities you're interested in but that doesn't
mean I'm not active or doing things worthwhile. I resent the
implication that what you want to do is worthwhile and what I want to do
is worthless. By the way, not every one wants to be an officer. You
haven't not lived until you've been in a group that has an officer who
clearly doesn't want to be one. I'm grateful for the people we have who
don't mind being an officer, but if someone doesn't want it, they
shouldn't be badgered about it.
Why do I attend club meetings? First, I want to have a chance to visit
with my friends in person. Second, I want to discuss various aspects of
ham radio with others, Third, I enjoy passing some of my knowledge and
experience on to others, and Fourth, I want to here a talk about some
aspect of ham radio. I do not attend club meetings to sit and listen to
pointless debates on why we should change the club meeting night. The
discussion was entirely too long last meeting on this topic. We seem to
get into several such discussions.
If some are offended by my comments, so be it. I'm offended by a small
group trying to change our meeting night for their convenience. I'm
tired of hearing how the club isn't interested in doing anything. It
provides the kind of interaction that I find acceptable.
Kerry
On 3/12/2015 11:27 AM, Gary J - N5BAA wrote:
> If the clubs met on different evenings, my bet is that the people
> would tend to attend whichever club (or hopefully both) that was
> offering the best, most interesting speaker. My bet with John
> Weisinger talking about a relatively popular topic next month -
> HEXBEAM ANTENNAS - that we would probably draw a fair number of
> members/visitors from the Boerne Club. Taking members away from their
> own home club isn't the intent of changing nights though. The intent,
> at least from my perspective is to allow members to attend both club's
> meetings if they desire. From my personal standpoint, as a Club
> Officer I CAN'T JUST DECIDE TO ATTEND THEIR MEETING (on the same night
> as ours) AS I NEED TO BE AT OUR MEETING TO TAKE NOTES AS THE
> SECRETARY. If I were just a plain member then my presence would not
> be missed. That however is not the intended point - the intended
> point is to allow all members the freedom to partake of as many
> sources of info as they desire. An unintended consequence of changing
> the time of our meeting might be that both clubs experience an
> increase in attendance and membership. I fail to see how changing the
> date of our meeting could lead to anything other than a positive
> outcome, unless there are significant numbers of people who
> can't/won't attend on the 2nd Thursday each month. However if they
> step up and vote no then they would in all likelihood defeat the
> motion in the first place, thus preserving the status quo.
>
> Gary J
> N5BAA
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Bill Tynan
> Sent: Thursday, March 12, 2015 10:54 AM
> To: 'Gary J - N5BAA' ; 'Harvey N. Vordenbaum' ; 'Terry Hipskind' ;
> 'Hcarc'
> Subject: RE: [HCARC] FW: HCARC Meeting Change
>
> Over the years, I have talked to folks on the air in the Comfort area,
> pitching our club. The response that I received was, "I go to the Boerne
> Club.
>
> 73,
>
> Bill, W3XO/5
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: HCARC [mailto:hcarc-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Gary J -
> N5BAA
> Sent: Tuesday, March 10, 2015 7:34 PM
> To: Harvey N. Vordenbaum; 'Terry Hipskind'; 'Hcarc'
> Subject: Re: [HCARC] FW: HCARC Meeting Change
>
>
>
> As is so often the case in HCARC the negative sides of the discussion are
> usually presented. How many members would like to attend two meetings a
> month?? I know of about 5-6 without even polling the group. The better
> question might be "HOW DO WE MAKE IT EASIER FOR MEMBERS TO HAVE
> AVAILABLE TO
>
> THEM THE LARGEST BODY OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE WIDEST ABILITY TO LEARN
> POSSIBLE?? Yes we have very talented, intelligent, helpful members in
> HCARC, but I am sure there is something we can learn from the members
> of the
>
> Kendall County Club (KARS) too. It costs us nothing, other than getting
> another group to end their meetings on time to move the meeting to the
> 2nd
> Thursday of each month. Then ALL the members that desire, can at their
> discretion attend, one club, both clubs, or as it happens each month when
> approx 70% of our membership don't attend at all. YUP, the facts are
> in, we
>
> average about 32 attendees out of 108 club members each meeting - hardly
> stellar attendance figures. Are we afraid of losing members to KARS,
> or are
>
> we afraid that some of their members might attend and join our club too,
> bringing new or different ideas?? Are we afraid of these new ideas, or
> might our dual club attending members find new things to share with
> HCARC??
> Maybe we could foster inter-club competition on things like Field Day -
> HORRORS that that should happen!!!! Rather than seeing it as an
> EITHER/OR,
> I see it as an AND. It was stated that KARS is a smaller club than
> ours,
> BUT IS IT LESS ACTIVE?? Last I noticed, we are not being swamped by
> people
> demanding to be allowed to participate in things like club officer, Field
> Day, ARES, etc.
>
> There are a small, but significant number of members of HCARC that
> miss our
> meetings because of conflicts such as the local Symphony. This helps
> them
> also. There are also probably other members who have a conflict and
> don't
> attend on the 1st Thursday because of it. Likewise, there might be some
> members of the club who will have conflicts on the second Thursday also.
>
> Maybe what we should be discussing is why we get such poor attendance
> at our
>
> meetings in the first place. Why will no one step up to serve as club
> leaders.
>
> Let the club decide - the motion has already been made and seconded.
>
> Gary J
> N5BAA
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: HCARC [mailto:hcarc-bounces at mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Terry
> Hipskind
> Sent: Monday, March 09, 2015 11:54 PM
> To: Hcarc
> Subject: [HCARC] HCARC Meeting Change
>
> During last Thursday's club meeting there was a motion to change the
> monthly
> club meeting from the first Thursday of the month to the second
> Thursday of
> the month. This motion was then tabled until next month's meeting.
> QUESTION: HOW MANY MEMBERS WOULD LIKE TO GO TO TWO MEETINGS A MONTH,
> AND ONE
> OF THEM A 60 MILE ROUND TRIP?
> ODD THAT KARS IS SMALLER THAN WE ARE. MAYBE IT'S BECAUSE OF THEIR
> PROXIMITY
> TO S.A. WHICH NO DOUBT HAS QUITE A NUMBER OF CLUBS.
> HV
>
>
> History: On the day of our meeting, I normally arrive at 05:30 pm to
> arrange the room if needed. At 06:00 pm the first wave of members begin
> showing up, both to socialize and to setup the refreshment table.
> Although
> we have not had a Tech Corner in some time we are trying to resurrect the
> Tech Corner for the new Hams - this starts at 06:30 pm and the club
> meeting
> stats at 07:00 pm.
>
>
>
> I checked the Red Cross calendar for the rest of the year to see if there
> would be any conflicts. No - But. There is a Families and Literacy
> Meeting
> scheduled from 03:00 to 06:00 pm every second Thursday of the month. The
> potential problem as I see it would be the 06:00 to 06:30 pm time period
> when we are trying to get setup and they are still trying to socialize
> as we
> do following our meeting.
> WE'VE HAD TROUBLE WITH THEM OR SOME GROUP LIKE THEM BEFORE.
> NOT THAT MANY IN THE GROUP. THEY COULD HAVE MET IN ROOM A. THEY WERE
> GOING
> ON LIKE THERE WAS NO TOMORROW IN THE BIG ROOM UNTIL WELL PAST 6:30. ONE
> TIME WE JUST BARGED IN ON THEM TO MAKE THEM GO AWAY.
> HV
>
>
>
> Something to think about
>
> 73
>
> Terry Hipskind, W0HIP
>
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